Monday, 22 December 2014

Well its the start of the Christmas week and as seems to be my own special tradition I'm full of a stinking cold. I've had it for three days now and I'm at the stage where my face looks like its been attacked by an industrial sander. I would quiet happily go back to bed and stay there but its Christmas I have shopping to do and friends to see. I'm sure the mulled wine will do wonders :)

Today's pattern is an old one but its never been published before so I hope you'll like it x

The one thing with this pattern is you need to use a wool yarn not a cotton so you can brush him after and make his whiskers :)

Using a wool needle weave the yarn through the last 6
Stitches and pull tight to close.

Head

Use 3mm crochet hook and yarn (B)

Start with 6dc into magic ring6St

Rnd 2: (dc in the first st, 3dc in the next two sts) repeat
to end. 14sts

Rnd 3: 2dc in the first st, dc in the next st, 3dc in the
next st, dc in the next 2 sts, 3dc in the next st, dc in the next 3 sts, 3dc in
next st, dc in the next two sts, 3dc in next sts, 2 dc in last st 24sts

Rnd 4- 6: dc in each st to the end.24 sts

Rnd 7-12: dc2tog, dc in each st to end. 18 sts

Rnd 12: (dc2tog, dc in the next seven sts) repeat to end.
16sts

Rnd 13: (dc2tog, dc in the next six sts) repeat to end.
14sts *mark this round*

Rnd 14: (dc2tog, dc in the next five sts) repeat to end.
12sts

Insert the toy eyes now. These go on the round marked with a
stitch marker,8 stitches apart.

Rnd 11: (dc2tog, dc in next st) repeat to end.

Rnd 15: (dc2tog) repeat to end

Cut the yarn leaving
a long tail and pull through loop to secure.

Using a wool needle
weave the yarn through the last 6 Stitches and pull tight to close.

Sew the head onto the body

Ears – make 2

Use 3mm crochet hook and matching yarn

Ch 7

Starting in 2nd ch from hook and work as follows along ch,
sl st, 2dc, 2htr,tr

Cut the yarn leaving a long tail and pull through loop to
secure.

Sew onto the head. One on each side just above the eyes.

Legs make 4

Use 3mm crochet hook and yarn (B)

Start with 6SC into ring6St

Rnd 1: (dc in first two sts, 2 dc in next st) repeat to end.
8sts

Rnd 2: ( blo dc in each st) repeat to end. 8sts

Rnd 3-6: dc2tog (dc in each st) repeat to end. 4st at end of
rnd 6

Rnd 7: dc in each st to end

Cut the yarn leaving a long tail and pull through loop to
secure.

Cut a piece of pipe cleaner to the same length as the leg
and insert inside the leg to make it more stable.

Use photo as a guide and sew the legs onto the underside of
the body.

Tail

Use 3mm crochet hook and matching yarn

Ch 8

Starting in 2nd ch from hook and work as follows along ch,
2sl st, 3dc, 2htr

Cut the yarn leaving a long tail and pull through loop to
secure.

Sew in place on the body.

Wrap a piece of ribbon around the neck to form the collar
and fasten in place with fabric glue.

Use a rough brush like a teasel brush to break the wool fibers around the face and create the whiskers.

Sunday, 21 December 2014

This pattern is for a little coin purse. this came about as I had a commission to create a purse for a book project and I ended up buying a few of the purse frames to have a play around. You can get the frames of amazon or any good craft shop they are really cheap but make these purses have a great professional finish. I got slightly addictive to making them and came up with loads of different patterns for them so I thought I'd add this one as a little taster to the advent calender.

I hope you have a go at making this and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did x

Advent calendar
day 21

Coin purse by Liz Ward

You will
need:

Dk weight
yarn in your choice of colour

4mm crochet
hook

Lining
fabric

Coin purse
frame

Abbreviations

Sl st–slip
stitch

dc – double
crochet

htc – half
treble crochet

tc – treble
crochet

dtr – double
treble crochet

st/sts –
stitch/stitches

dc2tog –
double crochet the next two stitches together

Popcorn
stitch - To work popcorn stitch first work 5 treble crochet stitches into the
same stitch. Next take the working loop off the hook. Thread the hook through
the top of the first treble stitch in the group. Pick up the working loop and
draw back through the first treble stitch.